A New Beginning
by stupid and genius
Summary: After the Space Colony ARK is saved, Shadow is thrown into a completely different world! But the help of some new friends he'll find his place again! Cause not even death can keep a good hedgehog down!


"CHAOS... CONTROL!"

the two hedgehogs shouted in unison. In a great flash, the space colony ARK was seen hurtling toward the earth one minute and floating peacfully in its orbit the next. However, something else was still falling toward the earth... or rather, some_one_...

"Maria... This is what you wanted, right? This is my promise I made to you..." Shadow whispered softly as he plummeted inevitably toward the earth and its atmosphere. Shadow had become very weak from overuse of his super form, but he knew he had one last chance to save himself, so that chance he took. "Chaos Control!" he said weakly. In a flash of light that was as dim as his strength, he disappeared.

Back on the ARK, Sonic and Rouge gazed out the window.

"Do you really think that the professor created him -- Shadow -- to carry out revenge on all of those who live here on earth?" Rouge asked.

"He was what he was," Sonic stated, "a brave and heroic hedgehog who gave his life to save his planet. Shadow the Hedgehog..."

"I guess you're right." Rouge replied.

After everyone had a chance to reflect on the perilous events that had just happened, they went to the transporter room of the ARK so they could go home and celebrate their saving the planet. Sonic, however, continued to look out the window for a little while longer.

"The ultimate life form..." he said softly. Just then, Amy went over to him.

"What's the matter, Sonic?" she asked.

"Oh, it's nothing," Sonic replied after a moment. "Come on, let's go home to the planet as cool and blue as me!" he said. Amy exited the control room, with Sonic following behind. But, just before he went out the door, Sonic whispered, "Sayonara... Shadow the Hedgehog."

Somewhere, a dim light flashed, and Shadow's form appeared. He had never felt weaker, and some of his fur had been lightly burnt from the short contact he had with the atmosphere. As he lay there on the ground, barely alive, he began to take in his surroundings. There were exotic-looking plants and trees all around him, and a river was flowing about 50 feet away. 'How did I get to this jungle?' he thought. 'I was supposed to teleport to the city... I don't suppose that matters, though... I'm going to die anyway... Why did I even try to save myself? ...I have fulfilled my purpose...' Just then, the hedgehog fainted.

Not too far away, a young female Pikachu was wandering along the riverbank. Now, this wasn't just any Pikachu. This one had the gift of speech. "I'm so bored," she said with a sigh. "There's not one Pikachu left in this forest to be friends with -- at least, I haven't found any... Even my family's been gone for a really long time... I miss them..." As Pikachu stopped to get a drink from the rushing water, she noticed some black thing laying on the ground on the other side of the river. "Is that a trash bag or something? Darn tourists," she muttered. Pikachu jumped across some stones jutting out from the river until she reached whatever that black thing was. As she got closer, she noticed that it wasn't a trash bag at all, but a hedgehog! "Holy Pokéballs! It's a hedgehog -- and he looks like he's hurt really badly!" She gently shook Shadow's shoulder. "Hey, are you okay?" Pikachu asked the stranger.

Shadow stirred slightly upon hearing the voice. "M-Maria...?" he said weakly.

"Uhh, my name's not Maria," Pikachu replied, "but I'm gonna try to save you... okay?" Shadow wanted to tell the Pokémon that he didn't want to be healed, that he just wanted to be left alone to die peacefully so that he could see Maria again, but he couldn't find the strength to even raise a finger, so he had to just go along with the yellow rodent. Shadow lay there helplessly as Pikachu ran off and quickly came back with what looked like a mat made of leaves that were tied together with vines. She gently pushed Shadow onto the mat and began pulling it in the direction she had gone to get it. As she pulled him along, Shadow slowly became unconscious again, secretly hoping that this time it would be for good.

When Shadow awoke, to his dismay, he found himself in a cave, laying on what seemed to be a slightly crude bed made from wood, moss and particularly soft grass. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious, how far the Pikachu had traveled to get him here, or even where Pikachu was -- he didn't see her anywhere as he looked around the spacious cave. He did notice a bed similar to his own, but smaller in size, on the opposite side of the room and thus he assumed it was where Pikachu slept. From the cave's entrance he could see that the sun had almost gone down. Had he been here for only a few hours, or several days? Shadow could feel that some of his strength had returned to the point where his eyes weren't the only parts of his body he could move. He was able to lift his hand, at least. He still wasn't strong enough to stand up, though, so he continued to lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling of the cave. "Why does that foolish girl insist on saving my life?" Shadow wondered aloud. "I have no real reason to live anymore... What does she care about me anyway? She doesn't even know me..." But then, he realized that it was rather kind of the Pikachu to try to save his life. Maybe it was some kind of sign that he was supposed to live. Maybe. A moment later, Pikachu came in. "Oh, good, you're awake!" Pikachu said. "I was worried! I thought you had gone into a coma or something." She handed a small cup to Shadow, which he slowly took. "Here, drink this. It's a mixture of some berry juices. It should help you get better." Shadow took a sip of the juice, if only to see how it tasted. It was actually quite good.

"If you drink all of it, you should feel a little better in a while. Oh, I've been wanting to ask you... what's your name?" said Pikachu. Shadow thought he should at least let her know his name since she had been so kind as to help heal his wounds. "My name is Shadow," he said.

"Shadow, huh? That's a cool name," Pikachu replied. "My cousin's name was Shadow-- well, actually, that was just his nickname, since he used to run around at night, you know..." A wave of sadness took over Pikachu just then. All of her family members had been gone for years; most of them had been captured by Pokémon trainers during a time when Pikachus were popular and everyone wanted to catch one. Pikachu herself had tried very hard to avoid capture since she's a very passive individual and would have hated being forced to fight against other Pokémon, although at times she wanted to be caught so that she might have the slim chance of seeing any of her family members again. Her sadness was apparently visible on her face, because Shadow asked her, awkwardly, "What's the matter?" Pikachu replied, "Nothing, I'm okay... By the way, I'm Pikachu. Everyone calls me, uh, well, Pikachu." But then, she remembered something that she had been curious about earlier. "Uhm, Shadow, I know it's none of my business, and this is probably a stupid question, but why did you call me 'Maria' earlier?" Shadow was rather shocked by this. "Well, it's a long story..." he began. "You see, I was created by Professor Gerald Robotnik, the world's leading scientist, on the space colony he created called ARK. His granddaughter, Maria, was my only friend. She taught me everything she knew. We both had a longing to go to the earth, just to see what it was like down there. Then, one day, the military discovered something about the professor's research-- to this day, I still don't know what --and they had come to shut down the colony. Maria and I ran to the transporter room, where we were to board the escape capsules and get out of the colony safely... Maria sent me to the earth in a capsule, but before she could board one herself, she was killed..." Pikachu looked at Shadow sympathetically. "Ohhh, that's so sad..." she said. "I lost all of my friends and family too... They were captured by Pokémon trainers when I was young. I miss them a lot... I've had to survive on my own for a long time. At least you had Maria with you to teach you a lot of stuff. I had to learn it the hard way, heh." Shadow looked at Pikachu for a moment. "Really? ...Our stories are so similar. I have sympathy for you..." With that, Shadow turned over and tried to sleep-- the berry juice had made him a little drowsy, and it was also nighttime already.

Pikachu replied, "I can say the same... Uhh, goodnight, Shadow..." There was no reply, so Pikachu assumed he was already asleep. She went over to her bed on the other side of the cave, curled up and soon fell asleep.

When Shadow awoke the next morning, bright sunlight coming in from the mouth of the cave warmed his face. When he became fully conscious, he realized that nearly all of his strength had come back. He was able to get out of the bed and stand up. He looked around the cave, just to see what was in it. In the opposite corner, Pikachu was still curled up in her bed sleeping. Shadow decided not to wake her. Looking around, he noticed that the cave was pretty much empty, except for a few piles of fresh berries and various other fruits near the back of the cave. Shadow went to the mouth of the cave and looked out of it. What he saw was the beautiful jungle landscape. 'I wonder what I'm going to do now...' he thought. 'Should I stay here with Pikachu? I don't exactly have anywhere else to go... And I suppose I should do something to pay her back for healing me.' Shadow turned to see if Pikachu was still sleeping, and she was. Shadow quietly gathered his cup and walked out of the cave to look for some source of water. He had become thirsty, and he had already drunk all of the berry juice over the course of the night. Not too far from the cave was a river-- the same river Shadow ended up near when he had, somehow, teleported there. He dipped the cup into the rushing water until the cup was about half full, then he took it out and drank from it. The water was somewhat warm, but at least it was something to drink. When Shadow finished drinking the water, he went back to the cave to try to sleep some more. Even though he felt almost fully healed, he knew that he still had to rest occasionally. As soon as he got inside, though, he was immediately greeted by Pikachu. "Mornin', Shadow!" she said cheerfully. "I see you're feeling better."

"Yes, I feel almost completely healed now," Shadow replied. "Thank you for taking care of me."

"No problem!" Pikachu said. "It's not often that I get visitors... Hey, you must be hungry! Do you want some breakfast?" she asked.

"I suppose. What exactly do you have to eat?" Shadow questioned.

"Uh, well, pretty much the only thing here to eat is fruit. There's a lot of different kinds, though... There's bananas, coconuts, stuff like that..." said Pikachu.

"Hmm, I guess I'll have a coconut." Shadow decided.

"Okay! Comin' right up!" Pikachu walked over to the back of the cave, where she stored the fruits she had found. The fruits were perfectly ripe, as though they had just been picked. She handed a coconut to Shadow, and had gotten a mango for herself. They ate quietly for a few minutes. A little later, Pikachu broke the silence. "So, Shadow, now that you're almost healed... where are you gonna go?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know," Shadow said genuinely. "I was thinking... Could I stay here? I have nowhere else to go, and I should do something to repay you for healing me."

"Umm... sure," Pikachu replied, awestruck. Finally, she had someone around to at least talk to!

"Thank you," Shadow replied.

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Genius: This story will only be continued if it receives enough reviews. SO PLEASE REVIEW!!! And as the title suggests, this is only the beginning. Many cute and funny squels will be posted later!

Stupid: And no flames please. Fire scares me.

Shadow: Really? (lights match and chases stupid) Hey this is fun!!! It's what you get making me so..._nice_!

Stupid: Eeepp! Sorry! But you are nice! Sometimes! HELP!!! (runs off) Genius: (sighs)


End file.
